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CITY OF CHICAGO ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL CHICAGO POET LAUREATE AVERY R. YOUNG
CHICAGO — Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, in partnership with the Chicago Public Library (CPL), the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), and the Poetry Foundation, proudly named avery r. young as the inaugural Chicago Poet Laureate. An award-winning poet, educator, composer, performer, and producer, young’s work spans the genres of music, performance, visual arts and literature. He is a co-director of The Floating Museum, Cave Canem fellow, Leader for a New Chicago 2022 awardee, and performer with his band, de deacon board. With more than two decades as a teaching artist, he has mentored generations of young poets. His poetry and prose are featured in several anthologies and periodicals. In the foreword of his most recent book, neckbone: visual verses, Theaster Gates called young, “one of our greatest living street poets.”
As Chicago Poet Laureate, young will serve a two-year term and be awarded $50,000 for the commissioning of new poems and to create public programming, including programs for youth and students. The Poet Laureate will serve as an ambassador for the city’s literary and creative communities.
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“I am proud to name avery r. young as the first-ever Chicago Poet Laureate,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “As a multifaceted, boundary-breaking poet and transformational youth educator who was born and bred in Chicago, avery will serve and strengthen our city’s literary and creative communities.”
“avery is a poet and artist who connects, engages, and inspires,” said Erin Harkey, DCASE Commissioner. “As the first Chicago Poet Laureate, avery will play an important role in helping to build and shape the program. We’re honored to support him and experience what he creates and catalyzes through his tenure as Laureate.”
The Chicago Poet Laureate program, which was announced in January 2023, comes from the advocacy of the city’s creative and civic communities. It aims to increase awareness of Chicago’s historic contributions to the literary arts while celebrating and honoring the efforts of Chicago’s working artists. The announcement of the Chicago Poet Laureate coincides with the celebration of National Poetry Month.
“From the open mic to lecture halls, from Lollapalooza to the Art Institute, I have been on a journey to figure out all the spaces where language can make room and build. I don’t walk into this appointment by myself, I enter this tenure with a community of social activists, creatives and municipal entities excited about the many ways in which this Poet Laureate appointment can weave poetry into the fabric of this great city,” shared Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young. “I understand the history in being the inaugural Poet Laureate, but I also understand the service it will take to lay the groundwork of a legacy and platform for all the Laureates who will follow.” avery r. young is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, 3Arts Awardee, poetry editor for Bridge, Cave Canem fellow, and co-director of the Floating Museum. His poetry and prose have been featured in The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, Teaching Black, The Golden Shovel Anthology: New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks, and AIMPrint, among other publications, and alongside images in photographer Cecil McDonald Jr’s In The Company of Black. He is the composer and librettist for a newly commissioned work from Lyric Opera of Chicago titled safronia, and fulllength recording tubman. (FPE Records) is the soundtrack to his collection of poetry, neckbone: visual verses.
2023, a call for nominations went out broadly to the public. Through nearly 1,300 submitted nominations, more than 200 poets were invited to confirm their eligibility to apply to be Chicago Poet Laureate. Subsequently, more than 50 individuals submitted applications for the role. Read more about the nomination and application process at Chicago.gov/PoetLaureate.
A Review Committee made up of 12 community leaders with significant expertise in education, poetry, civic and cultural leadership, and the literary arts reviewed and scored all applications, interviewed candidates, and submitted a recommendation to the Mayor for final approval and appointment.
